Tomek is 14 and a good student. He's interested in astronomy and plays football to please his father. The only thing is, he lives in a poor little border town plagued by unemployment, whereas across the river lies Germany with all its relative affluence. Tomek meets Marta at a disco and falls in love with her. He starts to think up ways of earning money in order to keep her interested. He approaches a pimp who seeks out local boys for his German clients. Tomek has no idea of the brutal fate which awaits him.
Acting
Filip Garbacz's devastating stillness as Tomek slowly realizes.
Direction
Gliński's unflinching gaze—no exploitation, just witness.
Director
Robert Gliński
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Released during Poland's EU integration anxieties, the film literalizes fears of Western exploitation of Eastern labor—and bodies.
The German clients remain faceless; Gliński refuses the easy villainy, implicating instead the systemic machinery that grinds through Tomek.
PL
